[Sca-cooks] January 2009 MK Cooks Challenge

[Susan Fox]

My word, yes, cheese.  Particularly in the Middle Kingdom.  I was struck 
by the difference the regional milk made, even in such an ordinary 
product as cottage cheese. 

My father, a wine columnist who writes as "The Grape Escape" in L.A. 
area papers, is a harsh critic of phrases like "grassy" and "raspberry 
notes" etc.  "If I want raspberries, I'll eat raspberries" he 
complains.  I don't really agree with him totally;  for some subtle 
distinctions, how else can you word it?  Like every other style of 
jargon it can be taken to extremes, of course.  My usual "don't be a 
jerk" guidelines apply.


Tangentally:  I am spearheading the activity organization for the 25th 
Anniversary of the Right Noble Brewers' Guild of Caid est. September 
1985] and am examining these suggestions most carefully. I would like to 
appropriate the vinegar-tasting concept if nobody minds, including the 
caveat about not overdoing it with too many samples.

Selene

Elaine Koogler wrote:
> How about cheeses?  You could also include cheeses from the Middle East and
> India...hard cheeses, soft cheeses, fresh cheeses, etc.
>
> Kiri
>
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Gaylin Walli <gaylinwalli at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> (Someone asked me if I would consider posting these on the SCA Cooks list
>> as
>> well as MK Cooks, so here they are. I'll try to continue doing so for the
>> remainder of the year.--Iasmin)
>>
>>
>> Background
>>
>> When thinking about food trends in the modern world, one of the things
>>  that
>> struck several MK Cooks members was that people frequently used  small
>> research forays as a way of sound "pseudo intelligent" about food. Case in
>> point: wine tastings. People attend wine tastings,  memorize of the
>> pseudo-science and outright fabrications of the  tasting liason, and then
>> proceed to parrot that information to their  friends and acquaintances
>> without really understanding what it is  they're talking about. Phrases
>> like
>> "Fruit forward," "lush mouth feel," "grassy nose" are being bandied about
>> with little explanation or true understanding of their meanings.
>>
>> The Challenge
>>
>> Mini "tastings" have become popular in the modern world as a trendy evening
>> activity. We could expand upon this by coming up with tastings geared
>> towards cooking researchers that bypassed the "pseudo intelligence" and
>> aimed at getting people to make their own decisions  on what items tasted
>> like.
>>
>> Suggest only ONE or TWO possible items that might serve as acceptable
>> "tasting"  topics for a 1-hour session as a class or discussion panel. For
>> example:
>>
>> -- salts from around the world, beyond common table and sea sea salt.
>> -- olive oils, especially those commonly available in the grocery store.
>>
>> Discuss.